PRE TENSIONING OF DDA FLYOVER

A Pre-casting Yard is established at Sarita Vihar site to cater for precasting of pretensioned
beams required for DDA Flyovers Pkg. 1(4 Flyovers 804 Beams) and Pkg. II (3 Flyovers 275
Beams). Out of 1079 precast beams 1059 beams are of standard length of 19.3 m long and
balance 20 beams required for Wazirapur Flyover are of 1 7.5m long.
The Precast Beam has length of 19.3 m, Concrete Grade M 45, Weight 16 t approx.,
Concrete Qty 6.25 m3, Reinforcement 1.1 t, Formwork 68 m2, HT Strands 15.2mm 0.36 t. Two
casting beds each of four beams were established. One Goliath Gantry with 30 t capacity has
been erected on rails for handling the precast beams from casting yard to stacking yard and for
loading into the trailer for launching.
Concreting operation is carried out by means of two way operating conveyor belt locally
manufactured, which moves on rails and is back fed by means of transit mixer.
Prestressing Operation is carried out from one end by means of 2 nos. Tangee Jacks of
capacity 250 t each. The Prestressing is achieved by means of 15 Nos. HT Strands 7 Ply, low
relaxation strand confirming to IS 14268 (class 2) & IS 6006 having a breaking load of 26.68
Tons. Out of the 15 Strands, 14 Strands are positioned at the bottom flange, and stressed in one
operation together by attaching them with the structural anchor girder by means of sleeves and
wedges in a single operation.
Pre-stressing is carried out at the stressing end by applying the jack between the concrete
end block and the structural anchor girder. The structural anchor girder alongwith the 14 HI
strands wedged to it located at the bottom flange of beam (refer sketch) move over the bed
providing the extension. The other end is fixed firmly on the fixed end block by means of sleeves
and wedges. The strands are stressed up to 19.95 t (0.75 UTS) per strand. Both jacks are
connected to a single prestressing pump and the pressure reading is recorded from the pressure
gauge. In case desired extension is not achieved a maximum of 5% increase in load is applied
until we get the desired extension.
Once the pre-stressing is carried out 2 struts are inserted between the concrete anchor block
and the structural anchor girder at the location as shown in sketch no. 3 and the jacks are
released. Struts are fabricated members along with a screw jack to facilitate destressing. Slip is
measured at both ends after 24 hours of Prestressing or at the time of
De-stressing whichever is earlier. A maximum of 2 to 3 mm has been recorded as slip for a gross
extension of 611 mm (theoretical).
The 15th strand, which is located on the top flange of beam, is prestressed by a mono strand
jack up to required extension as per design stipulation. For de-bonding 20mm dia PVC sleeves
are pre-inserted at the required locations as stipulated in the drawing.
Reinforcement cage is prefabricated and lowered in position by means of gantry when the
bed is ready to receive the cage. The HT Strands are threaded in their respective aperture of the
reinforcement cage as per profile through de-bonding PVC sleeves at the desired locations. The
threaded HI Strands are tightened by removing the slack by using the Mono strand jack @ 50
Kg/cm pressure. The pre-stressing is carried out and the formwork closed, and concreting
undertaken. Typical time Cycle enclosed herewith.
One Important stipulation of the designer is that the de-stressing is to be carried out only
after the concrete obtains a strength of 80% of its characteristic strength i.e. 80 / 100 x 450
Kg/cm2 = 360 Kg/cm2. Therefore it is essential to design a mix with admixtures suitable for
gaining an early strength so that we get the desired strength by 24 hrs. or earlier. The mix design
adopted by us at Santa Vihar is as follows. Grade of Concrete M45, A/C Ratio 4.15, CAIFA
Ratio 65.35, W/C Ratio 0.32, and Admixture CEMWET SP300M 2% by weight of cement. After
the concrete cubes achieve strength of 360 Kg/cm2 destressing is carried out by taking the load
by reactivating the jack and operating the screw jack provided with the strut. Cables are cut by
using Electrical Grinder / Cutter between the beams and ends. At this time one may notice
hogging of beams (about 13mm at mid section of beam) and movement of beams from the bed
(Max 135mm for the first beam).
First bed at Santa Vihar was commissioned during winter and average 44 beams have been
cast. Second Bed was commissioned on 23rd April 2000. During winter, the destressing
operation got delayed due to delayed gaining of strength of concrete for which hot water was
added for batching of concrete at Batching Plant. Three Diesel burners were used to heat the
steel water tank from where water is pumped into the Batching Plant to heat the water from 15
degree to 40 degree centigrade.
During the casting of girders templates and MS Sleeves for installation of POT PTFE
Bearings had to be accurately assembled in the bed before placement of reinforcement cage. The
precast beams are stacked in2tiers.

TIME CYCLE FOR PRECASTING YARD

36 hour time cycle

Concreting - 02 hrs. 30 mm
Wait period for strength - 23hrs.
Destressing & cutting of Hl strands - 01 hrs.30min
Shifting of beams - 01 hrs.
Bed Cleaning & Reinforcement placing - 01 hrs.
Cable Threading - O3hrs.
Pretensioning including slack removal - 01 hrs.30min
Side shutter closing including dowels - 02 hrs.30 mm
TOTAL - 36hrs.